Noah Lyles is game to race Tyreek Hill.
But he’s not doing it for cheap. And he’s only doing it under his rules.
The three-time Olympic medalist and 100-meter gold medalist at the Paris Games responded Wednesday to Hill’s latest challenge to a foot race.
“I mean if somebody wants to sponsor the event and we’re racing for millions of dollars and it’s on a track and we’re running 100 meters, then sure, we can race,” Lyles told NBC News.
“But it has to be legit, I’m not here to do gimmicks. You’re racing against a guy who has worked his whole life to get the title of the world’s fastest man, and you’ve worked to be a great football player. You can’t just jump the line because you’re a great football player.”
Hill is widely viewed as the fastest player in the NFL. The Miami Dolphins wide receiver has generated plenty of headlines throughout his career challenging the likes of Terrell Owens, Aaron Jones and others to races. He’s also experienced recent success on the actual track with a 2023 win in 60 meters at the U.S. Track and Field Masters (25 to 29 years old division) in 2023.
Now he wants to race the unofficial world’s fastest man — or so he claims. Hill and Lyles have engaged in a somewhat contentious back-and-forth in media about a race since Lyles’ Olympic gold run on Aug. 4. Hill’s latest shot arrived on social media Sunday, when he challenged Lyles to commit to a 50-yard sprint.
“Sign the contract and lock in that 50-yard race,” Hill wrote.
That was in response to Hill telling Shannon Sharpe that “Tyreek is just chasing clout.”
“If he’s serious about it … you’ll see me on the track,” Lyles told Sharpe of Hill last week on his “Nightcap” podcast.
Are Hill and Lyles really gonna race?
So that’s where things stand, begging the question: Is this race actually going to happen?
It’s unlikely. Hill’s in the midst of training camp and isn’t likely to get the green light from the Dolphins to risk injury running in extracurricular activities.
Also, Hill doesn’t stand a reasonable chance — especially within the 100-meter parameters Lyles has set. Hill — who ran track at Oklahoma State — undeniably possesses elite speed. But football speed and track speed are two separate entities.
Hill’s 6.70 time in 60 meters smoked the field in his age bracket at the 2023 USATF Masters. It qualified as the 213th fastest time in the world at the time in 2023.
Hill’s best official time in the 100 meters is 10.19 seconds. Lyles secured gold with a time of 9.79 seconds in Paris. There’s no comparing what Lyles does on the track to what Hill does on the football field.
U.S. track legend Michael Johnson laid the disparity out in bare terms after Hill raced at the 2023 USATF Masters.
A 10.18 sprinter claims he can compete with the worlds best. No one pays any attention because it’s ridiculous right?
But when it’s an NFL star things change. I get the intrigue but unless that race happens the media attention puts them on equal footing. And who does that hurt?
— Michael Johnson (@MJGold) March 11, 2023
Hill surely understands the realities here. Does he really want to risk almost certain embarrassment on track, or is this all just bluster to keep in the headlines? The latter is almost certainly the case.
But Lyles brought up the one point on Wednesday that could make this a reality — “if somebody wants to sponsor the event and we’re racing for millions of dollars.”
If there is a sponsor willing to pay both athletes millions of dollars to run 100 meters, who would say no to that?
